Micheline Berry’s "Liquid Asana Live" (Udaya)

[sunday]

Thanks for the review! I think I'm still going to get this. I did not care for UY simply because it reminded me too much of Ashtanga training. This sounds just different enough that I would probably enjoy it.

[Orlita]

Looks like FRIENDSANDFAMILY still works on the monthly subscription, just not the new set. Hmm.....should I take the plunge?

[sherry7899]

There is a description of each class under the "classes" drop down at the top right side of the screen. I think based on the photos this set is too advanced for me. I will still wait for clips.

http://liquidasana.com/

I really dislike sun sals....

Kitty-thank you for posting your thoughts. Are the dvds chaptered?

Sherry

[debbied]

Originally Posted by Orlita

Looks like FRIENDSANDFAMILY still works on the monthly subscription, just not the new set. Hmm.....should I take the plunge?

Yup, you should. I finally caved and the classes are varied and excellent. I've been doing shorter ones after other workouts and I've found the selection really great. If you want longer classes, there are plenty of those, too.

[Vee]

Originally Posted by kitty12

I received mine a couple of days ago. I was surprised to receive it so early.

I completed the first practice which was sun salutations. I had mixed feelings about this one. I liked her and I liked the music. As usual, it is excellent production quality. Her instruction isn't quite as good as the other Udaya practices, meaning that at times I needed to look at the TV to see what was going on (something I rarely did with the other sets). Having said that, her instruction was good enough for me so not a major complaint, just not as good as the others. The practice itself wasn't very inspiring though. In general I am not a fan of doing 30 minutes of sun salutations - with exception of UY Cardio which I love. She went through 4 or 5 variations moving at a pace probably similar to YW365. Some were referred to "dancing" or something similar, but they were not dancing at all and were very much like other practices that I have done. She holds quite a bit of time in down dog, which I do not personally care for that much as repeated long holds can irritate my shoulder. She wraps with some stretchy poses, shoulder stand, etc. I'm not sure that I would reach for this practice much. I think this one was about 55 minutes long.

Today I tried the second practice "Beginner's Mind". After 18 minutes with only three poses I stopped the DVD. I think they were on all fours, child pose, and down dog but I may have missed something in recollection. A lot of time holding a pose and moving your body through circular movement - something I recall doing with Shiva Rea practices, but this felt like it went on and on. I did not care for the music in this one and the "spiritual" yoga speak was more annoying. I expected this from this set, but thought I could tune it out like I might a Shiva Rea practice. But because the flow was so slow, it was difficult to do. After about 18 minutes, I put in Brazil Butt Lift Sculpt instead

I will try a couple more but hoping Udaya still has the 30 day return policy.

Thanks for the review. The review is excellent. Saved me money. This does not sound like a set I would like.

[kitty12]

Hi. Forgot to mention - I think the time for Beginner's Mind was about 65 minutes (all times mentioned approximate only).

I'm a little confused about the earlier comment about the lengths of the practices. I think that the only short practice is on the Introductory DVD1. I have not viewed it yet, but it describes it as an Advanced practice with only Micheline. At least the first three practices I have done have fit the earlier statement of around and hour or more.

Today I completed Roots, Rock and Flow. This practice is around 75 minutes long. Again, very heavy on the yoga speak, much less plain yoga speak than Udaya's first three programs. I am not into this type of yoga speak, but was able to look past it in this practice. Some of the movements in this practice:

malasana, dolphin pose, forearm plank
Sun Salutation A
Sun Salutation B (approx. 16 minutes to this point)
Vinyasa flow - 3 (?) cycles
Extended Child's Pose (approx. 38 minutes to this point)
Additional Vinyasa flow (40 - 58 minutes)
(3) camel pose alternating with sitting on heels
Seated twist, seated forward bend
Plough, shoulder stand, fish
Savasana

Regarding the vinyasa, she moves through a progression that builds to arm balances. While there is always an option to stay in the earlier variation, in the second and third vinyasa, due to limited outward hip rotation, I had to stay in the initial stage of the movement. As such, it did feel a bit broken when she then transitioned back into the flow.

I liked this practice much more than the first two and I also liked the music.

Regarding levels, in her intro she mentions that these practices are for all levels, but someone completely new to yoga may find her more difficult to follow as she uses more Sanskrit and doesn't always guide from pose to pose. Sometimes she describes the movement itself (how to step into the pose), rather than naming the pose and this caused me to look at the screen at times.

There are no menus to select different parts of the practices. I checked using chapter skip to see if there were chapters and for the DVD that I checked it seemed they were evenly spaced every 10 minutes.

[Dabbadooey]

I watched an intro clip that was posted on facebook, and I am more interested than I thought I would be. She reminds me of Shala Worsley.

[kitty12]

So far, the first two practices that I have done, don't really have that same fluid dancy flow that is reflected in her intro clip so I am assuming they are coming later. The first two on Disk 2 and 4 feel like traditional vinyasa flow to me. The second practice, Beginner's Mind, did have some more flowing movement, but was too slow with such long times in a single pose for me. Also, she has not used any props so far so that must come later.

That is the same intro that is on her DVD 1. I'm hoping I like the actual practices more as I go on as I also liked what I saw when I first watched the intro and hoping that the practices build.

The intro clip is also posted here:
http://liquidasana.com/

[Jacqi A]

I liked that clip! Including the music & the dancy bits. But tons of sun salutations don't interest me.
I'm waiting to hear more about the other practices and to see more clips. Thanks, Kitty!

[katmom]

I think I will pass on this set based on the clip and these reviews.